january freeze

Derek will die on the street tonight;

 in the end, it will most likely be the cold that gets him,

but Derek will die on the street tonight.

he gave the finger to the day shelter lady

"I ain't no one's problem - just my own."

and looking to score some H 

goes out into the cold

and Derek will die on the street tonight

slush-shuffled until slush was ice

and spittle-freeze river 

made a chin-glacier knife

but freezing to death 

while looking to score some H 

is better than your heart bursting open 

all over your plate.

so Derek will die on the street tonight

I watched him shuffle with frost-bit toes 

and shuffle ragged, shuffle slow.

going to sit down under the stairs by the levee

where Derek would die on the street tonight.

but I know you all have it hard

because your heating bill is high

and you got aches and pains and you don't know why,

and little Justin is getting a "C" in math

so we all have it hard.

and lots of folks make choices.

and that, my friends, is why

Derek will die on the street tonight.